Isn't it expensive to accept credit cards for my business?

Yes, it is. But it is a necessary expense to be succesful online. You COULD just accept paypal, but this adding an extra step to the checkout process could lead to more abandoned shopping carts. Why spend all the time and money building an online store, advertising it, and managing it just to have your customers abort their transaction at the last step?

When you accept credit cards at your place of business, whether it is an online business or a business with a physical storefront, you must consider the fees that will need to be paid to the card-issuer. If someone uses a Visa/MasterCard at your store, for example, typically a percentage of 2.2% or so is charged to the merchant (You) for the transaction. Amex and Discover are usually almost a percentage point higher than Visa/MasterCard.

There are also other related fees. Usually there is a monthly statement fee of around $10. There are also minimums of about $25 for the percentage of your sales. So even if you do not have any sales at all for a given month, you will have to pay them $25. Once the 2.2% is over $25, that minimum goes away. Sometimes there are also per-transaction fees of about $0.30.

Add these up and you will be paying a minimum of $35/month PLUS 2.2% of all of your credit card transaction fees. These fees are usually taken out as the money is placed into your bank account.

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Can you help me get a merchant account, or should I use my bank?

You should shop around, and yes we do resell merchant accounts. The rates that you are quoted for merchant services will vary somewhat based on the average total credit card sales at your company each month, the type of product you sell, your average ticket price, the risk rating of the industry that you are in, and the location of the customer that you sell to. Call us to discuss merchant accounts.

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